Banks only hire folks that are already licensed, and have about 3+ yrs experience. The only way to get licensed at a bank is to start as a licensed banker, or as a non licensed sales admin for a rep at a bank, that will later get her licensed, and possibly promote her eventually, maybe 2-4 yrs down the line if she can prove sales talent. The current econ environment has curtailed the latter. The former, licensed bank program, is about as enjoyable as stacking rocks.

I started in the bank as a licensed bank manager at Regions before moving internally to Morgan Keegan back when I started. I remember a lot of people with zero experiance in that training class. Was kind of hoping something else was out there. I would send her there but when I left them, it was on good terms locally, but not at home office.

I know all sorts of folks that are licensed in securities and insurance, in admin capacities. After the crash, cost cutting, many were laid off. None of these folks have been hired back. Licenses expire and they are really working hard ..now...to get rehired. There's a ton of folks out there, already with licenses. It's a real good market for hiring, not so much for seeking work. It is super expensive to run a training/development program, most have been terminated. But, if you go to work at some retail bank, those folks really want the staff to be licensed and sell a small handful of annuities and mutual funds. Knowing what I know about those positions, I'm not sure I'd recommend that to anyone, as the job is not very pretty. High demands, low pay, lots of rah rah, push push...

I agree totally about the bank platform positions....its always good job and then what is next in your pipeline...